This week saw a terrible decline in gumption on all levels, making it hard to just stumble through the day. I did pull it together for Halloween -- putting up my decorations and setting out two bowls -- one with full sized candy bars labeled "Treats -- Take One" and one with my pile of snacks from around the world that I got from Universal Yums labeled "Tricks -- Take One." And I'm proud to say that kids were honest! Well I think a few kids would take two, but that was fine because a lot fewer homes were doing trick-or-treating and also I needed to get rid of the candy.
I hauled myself out for my monthly 5K run. It doesn't get easier if you skip all the training runs.
And the lack of gumption extended into the week -- see how late this is coming out!
I pulled out reviews of the Cybils books to a separate blog, which was also late.
My currently reading zoomed back to 27, indicating the problem I had finishing anything.
The Book Date does a weekly roundup of what people are reading, want to read, or have read each week called "It's Monday! What Are You Reading" so I'll sign up there. Ditto for the children's lit version at either Teach Mentor Texts or Unleashing Readers. I will be eligible there for the next few months for sure!
Started
Wolf Rebel, Paige Tyler. Substitute for my Library Quest: Action/Thriller bag.
Changing the Equation: 50+ US Black Women in STEM, Tanya Bolden. Cybils 2020 nominee.
Who Gives a Poop, Heather L. Montgomery. Cybils 2020 nominee.
The Last Mirror on the Left, Lamar Giles. An ARC I meant to read last month.
A Lady's Code of Misconduct, Meredith Duran. Because it looked fun -- amnesia!
Mating the Huntress, Talia Hibbert. For Be the Serpent.
The Sugared Game, K. J. Charles. Because I felt like it.
Completed
Changing the Equation: 50+ US Black Women in STEM, Tanya Bolden. Cybils 2020 nominee.
Kiss Number 8, Colleen A.F. Venerable. 2019 Cybils YA graphic novel finalist. This took so long to write it's considered vintage now, which, oof. A girl figures out who she likes by kissing a lot of people, which causes conflict in her conservative Catholic school and family. Meanwhile she discovers the truth about her trans grandmother, which causes conflict with her father. The illustrations were good -- I still managed to confuse people sometimes but their clothes and words would fix that very quickly. I liked the way that relationships (such as with her parents) changed and evolved, and that people weren't defined by "identities" but instead those identities were adjectives that fit people to a degree, like any adjective.
Mating the Huntress, Talia Hibbert. For Be the Serpent. A quick novella about that uses Halloween and werewolf tropes to skip a lot of steps and focus on the fun bits in a Romeo/Juliet story that allots about a third of character time to sex. Our couple has a mystical bond so they can deal with the problems of their families and misunderstanding of the natures instead of wasting page time on becoming attracted to each other. Fun and something I could quickly finish, which I desperately needed!
The Sugared Game, K. J. Charles. Another search for a cure for my reading slump. All I could muster up the energy to do was dig holes in Minecraft. So I reached for something sure to go down easy. This was perfect -- Charles writes a fun and romantic story while not skipping out on history, story, or character. The problems between the characters are real and drive the gangster style plot -- there are class differences, temperment differences, and legal problems, but the interesting stuff is them negotiating what they want and what trust they can extend to each other. While grabbing swords off the walls in posh English country homes, of course.
Who Gives a Poop, Heather L. Montgomery. Cybils 2020 nominee.
Bookmarks Moved (Or Languished) In:
Uncompromising Honor 37/??, David Weber. Baen Free Radio Hour's serial. I think there's a new set of people sitting around and talking about things.
Harry Potter, J.K. Rowling. I'm listening to celebrities read this to me.
Black Leopard, Red Wolf, Marlon James. Sword and Laser pick. Team building.
A Long Time Until Now, Michael Z Williamson.
Children of Time, Adrian Tchaikovsky. Humans and spiders may meet again.
The Pleasant Profession of Robert A Heinlein, Farah Mendelson. Hugo finalist.
The Luminaries, Eleanor Catton.
Someplace To Be Flying, Charles de Lint.
The Bone Witch, Rin Chupeco.
The Bourne Supremacy, Robert Ludlum.
Return of the Thief, Megan Whalen Turner. I'm really enjoying this, and then I realized if I finished it that would be the end. So now I'm torturing myself by not moving on from the middle of the story.
Picture Books / Short Stories:
There are a few Cybils 2020 nominees.
Pancakes to Parathas:Breakfast Around the World, Alice B. McGinty. This almost showed up on my Cybils list but then didn't (maybe the dates were wrong, or it's been ruled fiction?) but I had ordered it from the library and it's not like I'm not going to read it, right? It's a fun picture book with illustrations of different people eating breakfast and a rather forced rhyming explanation. I'm not sure breakfast in China and India is as standardized as it suggests, but there was a lot of different food and it did succeed in making me hungry.
Imaginary Menagerie, Julie Larios. 2008 Cybils poetry finalist. Pretty book with vibrant fantastical creatures and a poem about then on the opposite page. Felt more like a picture book than an illustrated book of poetry.
Julian at the Wedding, Jessica Love. Julian has fun a park wedding where he and another little girl are the attendants. Not only does he get to wear a fabulous dress suit with a cape, he also gets to design her a new look when she gets her flower girl dress dirty. So a good day for him, and also a lot of lovely illustration of people with great hair. The action is small but the story is from a young child's point of view -- what matters is making friends, enjoying the party and the loving family, feeling safe and powerful.
Thank you to Candlewick Press for providing me a copy to review.
The Boy and the Gorilla, Jackie Azua Kramer. A moving story about grief, where the gorilla, somber but beautiful with hidden colors blending into its dark fur, helps the child recognize emotions and talk through the loss of his mother. I'm very dubious of bibliotherapy, where books are prescribed like pills, but I'm very enthusiastic about books as immunizers. Some kids would appreciate this book to help put names to what they are feeling just after a loss, but all kids would benefit from understanding the emotion of grief and the feeling of loss, of having sadness as heavy as a gorilla shadowing your life. The metaphor doesn't completely work -- the gorilla leaves too soon -- but it's an emotionally true depiction of a tough time in a child's life.
Thank you to Candlewick Press for providing me a copy to review.
Palate Cleansers
These books I'm barely reading; I use them as palate cleansers between books I'm actually reading.
The Educated Child, William Bennett.
Give All to Love, Patricia Veryan. Final twists and duels.
Wool, Hugh Howey.
Sorcerer to the Crown, Zen Cho.
Reading and Learning to Read, Jo Anne Vaca. Other kind of diversity and teacher responses to it.
Reading Challenges
- Cybils 2017. None. I just need 3 YA books to be done. But YA is hard.
- Cybils 2018. None.
- Cybils 2019. Finished Kiss Number 8.
- Early Cybils: A poetry one.
- Reading My Library. Started the action adventure is up.
- Ten to Try. At 9/10. I'm working on the last one.
- Where Am I Reading: 27/51 states. 26 Countries. I'm a bit behind labeling things, but I don't think I've gone new places.
- Book Riot's Read Harder Challenge. I'm done.
I'm putting this at the end because I suspect it's complete fiction, but I feel I should attempt some structure.
I am reading:
- Book I own: Return of the Thief. Next: No idea.
- Library Book: Wolf Rebel. Next: Sister book.
- Ebook I own: None. Up Next: I will probably buy myself another K.J. Charles.
- Library Ebook: I need to finish either Bourne Supremacy or Luminaries.
- Book Club Book: Fledgling. Up Next: Maybe Finder?
- Tuesday Book Club Book: Somewhere to Be Flying. Next/also: The Wine Dark Sea.
- Review Book: Last Mirror on the Left. Up Next: Picture books.
- Hugo Book: The Pleasant Profession of Robert A Heinlein. Next: Joanna Russ.
1 comment:
I was so excited about Return of the Thief being released, but then on release week I realized I wanted to reread either the whole series or the last couple books before reading it. Elisabeth (of The Dirigible Plum) texted me a photo of her book as soon as it came in (since we’ve shared the series) and I was quite envious. I really hope you enjoy it, Beth!! And I’m so sad it’s the end. *sniff, sniff*
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